


Dudley's Dilemma

by candybuttons



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, Harry Potter Next Generation, Hogwarts, M/M, Redeemed Dudley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2015-03-06
Packaged: 2018-02-14 06:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2181822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candybuttons/pseuds/candybuttons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The life story of Amelia Dursley</p><p>Or: How Vernon Dursley's life went completely to hell</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Dudley and Laura Dursley were married on June the first, 2002. If you’d asked Vernon Dursley, that girl was the worst thing that could have possibly happened to his Diddykins, however, nobody seemed to ask Vernon much of anything these days. Vernon was a particularly normal person, and he’d expected Dudley to turn out much the same thank you very much, but there’s a certain level of weird that one tends to attain when one has Harry Potter for a cousin. Oh yes, Vernon knew all about his wonderful, world saving abilities. But that did not change the fact that that boy was a horrible influence and I don’t care if he is your cousin, no! We are not attending his wedding Dudley, go back to your room. Because for god’s sake, the boy was a freak and who knew what kind of horrible witchcraft tomfoolery might go on with his crowd?   
He might not have known it then, but he was absolutely right. That boy’s wedding was where all of the trouble began. It was where Dudley met Laura.  
*****  
It had been a completely normal February day. It was dark and dreary. There was that awful, grey colored slush on the ground and Vernon (Mr. Dursley to those of you that don’t know him very well) was wearing his warmest sweater. In other words, it was exactly the way that February days should be and it was absolutely perfectly average. If you couldn’t already tell, Vernon liked it when things were average. Vernon was sitting by the telly, drinking a nice cup of warm tea-not hot, warm-when the doorbell rang. Grumbling to himself slightly, Vernon stood up and opened the door only to find the bane of his existence waiting for him on the doormat, in a similar fashion to the way he’d originally found him.  
Harry Potter and some bird were standing on his doorstep. Harry bloody Potter was at his house with a girl. The girl was smallish, had flaming red hair and was much too pretty be with his nephew. The three of them stood there staring at each other until Petunia called from in the kitchen.  
“Vernon, who’s at the door? Are you inviting them inside?” Vernon turned to glare at Harry and his…guest. He moved to close the door when the girl stopped him.  
“Hi. My name is Ginny Weasley,” she began in a voice that was sickeningly sweet, the kind one would use with a toddler when they misbehaved. “May we come in?” And when she didn’t wait for him to welcome her in (not that he would have, mind you) Vernon was officially convinced that he didn’t like this Ginny girl at all.  
Vernon led the three of them to their sitting room where Petunia was sitting and reading a Good Housekeeping magazine. She looked up when they entered and immediately the false smile she always wore when guests were involved was replaced with a scowl.  
“What are you doing here?”  
“Well I, I mean I didn’t“ Harry began.  
“What Harry is so eloquently trying to tell you,” Ginny cut in when she noticed Harry’s floundering. “Is that the two of us are engaged, and while you were horrible to him growing up-Don’t try to deny it-my mum thought it would be nice to invite you. After all, you’re Harry’s only family.” Petunia stood up angrily.  
“What makes you think we would want to be there? We saw enough of you when you still lived here.” Ginny rolled her eyes dramatically.  
“Do you even know how important Harry is? He has saved the world so many times and you don’t even ca…”  
“Look Ginny, it’s fine. I told you I didn’t want to come back here.”  
“But Harry, seriously…”  
“No, let’s just get out of here,” Harry turned to face the Dursleys and grabbed something out of his coat pocket. “Look, come, don’t come, I don’t really care. I’m going to leave an invitation with you just in case, but please feel free to ignore it.” At that Ginny grabbed his hand and the two of them were gone. As in, vanished into thin air.  
*****  
Of course the first thing Dudley noticed when he came over for his twice-weekly visit was the Scarlet and Gold invitation, still sitting where Harry had left it as neither Petunia nor Vernon wanted to touch it.  
“Mum, Harry’s getting married?” Dudley asked, more shocked that somebody would want to marry Harry than anything else.  
“Yes, him and –she shuddered-some girl came over to tell us about it. But we’re not going.”  
“Why not?”  
“You can’t possibly want to go to their wedding. Their type of people will be there!”  
“And? It’s still his wedding. There will probably be an open bar, and mum, you can criticize how tacky it is and how terrible all of their dresses are.” In truth, Dudley wasn’t sure why he wanted to go to Harry wedding, he just knew that he wanted to.  
“Well I’m definitely going. What day does it say on that card?”  
*****  
The wedding was on December 24, 2000. It was held in a big church in an utterly unfamiliar neighborhood (which, unbeknownst to Dudley was the Church in Godric’s Hollow where Harry’s parents had gotten married and near the house that Ginny and Harry now lived in. Dudley was the only Dursley to attend. Aside from the occasional spell, it was a nice wedding. If his mum had been there, and it had been a different couple getting married, she would have called the décor tastefully eclectic. Ginny was wearing a white, sleeveless dress that was fairly plain, but she seemed to shine in it, and had her bright red hair in a twisty updo that looked both insanely complicated and simply effortless. The ceremony was short enough that it didn’t put people to sleep, but long enough that it felt appropriate. When it came time for the reception Dudley noticed that there wasn’t a place card with his name on it. He’d never actually called to confirm that he was coming, so why would they have one for him? It was bad enough that he was crashing the wedding of the cousin that he’d always treated horribly, but now apparently he wouldn’t even have a place to sit!  
“Sir!” Dudley heard a voice call. He turned and pointed to himself and noticed a woman sitting at one of the nearby tables waving and nodding at him.  
“I noticed you standing at the cards and frowning, so I figured that you probably couldn’t find yours or were sitting at a bad table. In any case, I thought I was going to bring a date, but he canceled so there’s an open seat next to me if you want it.”  
Well, what did anyone say to that except “thank you very much” and “of course I’ll sit here”, so that’s exactly what Dudley did.  
“Hi. My name is Laura Creevey.”  
“Dudley Dursley.” The two of them talked for awhile. As conversations tend to do, it started out as small talk and quickly turned into something of substance. Dudley found that he actually rather enjoyed talking to Laura. They were both at Uni, he studying Maths (the one subject he was any good at) and she Literature. Once they had exhausted all other topics, the conversation came to rest on the bride and groom.  
“So, how do you know them, Dudley?”  
“I’m actually Harry’s cousin.”  
“I didn’t know harry had any family, I’d just heard about that terrible muggle family that…” she broke off at Dudley’s sheepish expression.  
“Oh. I didn’t realize,” she began.  
“No, we deserve that. As much as my father would’ve hoped, I didn’t end up being a completely terrible human being. After Harry left for good I made some new friends and went off to Uni and got a great roommate. I don’t know, I just grew into a different person. Enough about me, how do you know them?”  
“Oh, well my two younger brothers, Colin and Dennis, went to school with Harry and Ginny. When Colin died in the war they, Ginny especially, were really good about explaining to me and our parents what was going on and she helped us go through the pain. She lost her brother during the war, so she knew what we were going through.”  
“So I take it you didn’t go to Hogwarts or whatever that place is called?”  
“No, completely non-magical over here.”  
*****  
Dudley and Laura went on exactly five dates before she told her parents. Seven before Dudley told his. Exactly a year and four months after they’d first met he proposed. And if they kept the fact that Laura’s brothers were wizards from the Dursleys, well, who could blame them.


	2. Chapter 2

Amelia Dursley, currently in the fourth grade, had a big problem. It was the beginning of October, and her friends were discussing what they wanted to be for Halloween. They knew that they wanted to do something as a group, because that was what friends did for Halloween! But the problem was that no one could agree on a theme for their costumes.  
“I want us to be witches!” Marley shouted, crossing her arms over her chest.   
“Why do you want to be a witch? Everyone knows that witches are old and ugly and mean and they’re gross. Plus, they have warts on their face! I want to be a baseball player,” Addie argued.   
“God Addie! You can’t force us to be basebell players for Halloween! Nobody wants to dress up as some sport from America that we don’t care about! You moved here a whole year ago. What’s that quote from that movie you made me watch? You’re not in Kentucky anymore.” Amelia argued with the conviction of a ten year old that knows they’re right. “I think we should be princesses.”   
“I like the Royals,” Addie replied quietly, already beginning to sulk. “And I’m from Kansas. Learn your geometry.”  
“I think it’s geology.” Amelia responded.  
“No that’s the one with rocks.”   
“It’s Geography. We had it as a spelling word last month,” said Sabrina, at the last minute adding “I think we should go as each other. It could be really fun! We could sit at each other’s desks and wear each other’s clothes! Imagine our teachers being so confused if Amelia came in and sat at my desk on Halloween!”   
“You’re just saying that because you have Mr. Gordon and we don’t and you hate him!” Amelia replied, cringing at the thought of having to spend even one day Mr. Gordon’s class.   
“He’s just so awful! If you guys were my true friends you’d switch with me for the day.” Sabrina countered.   
“Can we get back to my idea of being witches?” Marley said, interrupting Sabrina’s pity party. “We only have a couple of minutes until recess is over and we have to choose what we want to be. Can we make ourselves cool witches? Like, if we’re not ugly?” Nobody spoke for a few minutes after Marley’s question, each girl thinking intensely about the idea.   
“I…guess we could do that?” Addie spoke at last. At her words, both Amelia and Sabrina nodded.   
“Okay but if we’re going to be witches we need to dress in a way we all like,” Sabrina said, already picturing what their final costume would look like. “When we go home today I’ll get my mum to help me draw some outfits.”   
Sabrina didn’t have very long to wait, as the girls’ were dismissed from school at the end of recess. Only a few minutes later, Mr. Gordon and Mrs. Samuelson rang the bells that signaled the end of the day. The four girls ran off the grab their backpacks from the lobby, hugged each other goodbye, and went to find their parents and begin the weekend. Amelia ran the two blocks to the small café where she knew her father would be waiting for her with a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone. As soon as she was at the front of the store, she stopped short. She smiled as she saw the large figure of her dad facing in the other direction and with his mobile at his ear. She decided not to waste the opportunity to try and trick him, so she tiptoed over to him as quietly and sneakily as she possibly could, only to have him turn around at the last second and grab her, picking her up and smiling down at her astounded face.   
“Hey Mimi!” Dudley said as he put Amelia down, kissed the top of her head, and handed her the bright green ice cream cone. “How was the math quiz today?”   
Amelia took a minute to answer, as she was too distracted by her ice cream to process her dad’s question. “It was really easy,” she answered eventually. Amelia chattered on about her day as she finished her treat and Dudley drank his tea. When they were both finished, they threw away their trash and walked hand in hand back to where Dudley had parked the car. Once they got inside, Amelia turned the radio the classical station that she hated but Dudley liked, only to have him smile at her and put her Katy Perry CD on instead. The music started playing and the two of them started singing along. Dudley liked to pretend that he couldn’t stand Katy’s music, but Amelia knew that he liked it almost as much as she did. After they got out of the car, and as they were walking to their front door, Amelia suddenly remembered the conversation that her and her friends had had during recess.   
“Daddy, I need to buy a magic wand.” At that sentence, Dudley froze. Every mean thought his parents had ever lead him to have against his freaky cousin and “his kind” of people popped into his mind. No. There was no way. But what if she was? He must have misheard her. His daughter couldn’t…  
“What did you say, Mimi?” Dudley asked shakily.   
Amelia turned around, now a few steps ahead of him. Rolling her eyes, she said “I’m going to be a witch, so I need a wand.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's not too much i can say to apologize for the delay, just that it probably won't happen again. Also, i know that this is a short one but this should be the last of the shorter, slower chapters.

“Daddy? Are you okay?” Amelia wondered aloud at the sight of her father’s stunned face.  
“What was it that you needed, Princess? A wand?” Dudley asked cautiously.  
“Yeah!” Amelia responded, excited as she remember how cool her Halloween costume was going to be. “Addie, Sabrina, Marley and me-“  
“Marley and I,” Dudley reminded gently. “Sorry. Go on,” he added at Amelia’s glare.  
“We’re going to be witches for Halloween! I’m so excited! Sabrina and her mum are designing outfits and, and, and we’re gonna be cool witches. Not like ugly witches….” Dudley let Amelia chattered on about her costume, relieved that he didn’t have to face the one thing that he’d been worrying about for her entire life. It wasn’t that he was against Amelia being a wizard. Witch. Whatever a female Harry Potter was called. But that was just the problem. The Wizarding world practically belonged to Harry. Despite the fact that he had met his wife at his wedding, the two of them weren’t especially close. He hadn’t even spoken to Harry since they’d been forced out of Privet Drive when he was eighteen.  
“Honey, is that you?” Laura called as he opened the door, bringing Dudley out of his thoughts.  
“With Mimi,” Dudley called in reply, walking into the den to give her a quick kiss.  
“Gross!” Amelia yelled as she walked in on her parents.  
“Hey Girlie!” Laura exclaimed, pushing her grading to the side and giving Amelia a hug. “How was your day?” Amelia happily told her what she had already told Dudley about her day; mostly she babbled excitedly about how cool her witch costume would be.  
The rest of the evening was spent in much the same way. Dinner was uneventful, and after Amelia had finished her hour of reading and gone to sleep, Laura and Dudley went back down to the den to finish their grading. Both Dudley and Laura taught at the local high school, Laura English and Dudley geometry.  
“D’you think I’m turning into my father?” Dudley asked suddenly.  
“What brought that up? You usually only freak out around the holidays when they visit.”  
“It’s nothing. Forget I brought it up.”  
“If you’re sure.” All was silent in the room for the next few minutes, until Dudley angrily threw his papers onto the coffee table and cradled his head in his hands.  
“Do these kids not expect me to notice that they’ve skipped half of the problems I assigned?”  
“They always do that and you never care. Sometimes you comment on how cleverly they’ve shaved problems off. ” Laura pushed her own work next to Dudley’s on the table and moved to sit next to him, coaxing his head out of his hands and running her hands over his legs. “Why don’t you actually tell me what’s wrong?”  
“It’s Mimi,” Dudley admitted sadly.  
“I figured.”  
“When I picked her up, she didn’t say anything about Halloween. She just told me that she needed a wand. Laura, I froze.”  
“And now you’re worried that you’re going to turn into your parents,” Laura guessed. Dudley just nodded sadly in response.  
“Look. I’ve met your parents. Frankly, I say a prayer every day that you ended up as normal as you did. Who knows how I would have ended up had you not?” Dudley chuckled at that.  
“You probably would have married some blonde lawyer that loves you far less than I do and by now you would have had at least four blonde babies by now,” Dudley decided.  
“Oh, you know that I would never have agreed to more than two blonde babies,” Laura reminded Dudley, pushing him gently on the shoulder.  
“You’re a great Dad. Amelia looks at you like the sun rises and sets with you. I think you’re going to be fine. Freak out about her being a witch if you want.-it will stop you from freaking about her as a teenager.”  
“Oh god,” Dudley responded, making a face.  
“C’mon. Let’s go to bed.” Laura grabbed his arm, pulling him up and kissing him deeply. “You can worry tomorrow.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys! Backstreet's Back.

Dudley had long forgotten his worries over Amelia’s Halloween costume by the time that they actually came true. That fateful March day had started out fairly normally. Amelia had, by then, discovered that fifth grade was much harder than fourth; especially since this year she only had Addie in her homeroom. This year, their teacher Mrs. Callaghan was making them take a series of tests on the countries. They were given a blank map and a list of countries, and they had to be able to match them up. There wasn’t a unified curriculum for fifth grade, and as each teacher taught something different, Sabrina and Marley managed to escape the dreaded Geology tests.  
On the day in question, Friday, March 15, Amelia’s 11th birthday, Addie and Amelia were planning to have a sleepover so they could “study” for their Asia test the following Monday. Now, neither girl planned to study on their sleepover, instead wanting to spend it celebrating Amelia’s birthday. Dudley and Laura knew this, and decided to surprise Amelia by inviting Sabrina and Marley over as well. The two of them had taken off work early today so that they could prepare. They gathered up all of Mimi’s birthday presents and cards on their Dining room table, and a chocolate ice cream cake was sitting patiently in the fridge.  
Looking around the room, Dudley couldn’t help but compare their homemade decorations and small present pile to his own eleventh birthday so many years earlier. He’d been unhappy with over 30 presents, thanks to how spoiled his parents had allowed him to become. The fact that he knew that Amelia would never react like that filled him with pride. It was almost enough for him to believe Laura when she told him he wasn’t turning into his parents. 

*******************************************  
“MO-OM! DAD!” Amelia shouted as she walked in the door. “We’re home!” Usually Dudley brought Amelia home, but today Addie’s mom had driven the four girls over. When she saw her parents, Amelia ran over to envelope the two of them in a giant hug.  
“Thankyouthankyouthankyou for letting all my friends come over,” she said. “Did you buy juice? Or soda? What about pizza can we get pizza tonight? When can I open my presents?”  
“Woah, woah, slow down Mimi,” Laura responded, laughing slightly at her daughter’s enthusiasm. “Why don’t you have your friends put their stuff in your room. While you do that your father and I will take out the drinks and the snacks and order food. We were going to order Indian takeaway tonight, but we could do pizza instead if you prefer. And presents?” She paused and looked at Amelia with feigned innocence. “Were we supposed to get you presents? You know, I knew we forgot something!” She slapped her forehead and turned to Dudley. “Did you buy her any presents?”  
“No, you know, I don’t think I did this year.”  
“Guys! Amelia yelled. “Stop being silly!” she rolled her eyes at her parents and joined her friends upstairs.  
Amelia sat down on her bed as her three friends unpacked their sleeping bags.  
“You guys are so lucky you don’t have Mrs. Callaghan,” Addie said sadly.  
“Yeah Mr. Gerst is so cool! Right now we’re studying Beowulf.”  
“Ugh you guys are so lucky!” Amelia agreed. “At least the year is almost over.”  
“That’s true. Do you know where you’re going to go to sixth grade?” Marley asked. “I think I’m going to go to Hamilton.”  
“What? Marley! But the rest of us are staying here! You can’t leave us for Hamilton! The Hamilton kids are so stuck up!” Sabrina argued.  
“Yeah, but my parents say that it’s a better school! You know how much I like science. Apparently, at Hamilton, you can take two different science classes each year!” The rest of her friends looked dubious, but Amelia simply refused to let Marley’s impeding school change ruin her night.  
“I think the pizza should be here by now. Are you guys hungry?” Everyone nodded their heads, so the four of them walked back downstairs. The pizza had, indeed, arrived, so they happily starting eating. The kids munched their way through two pizzas, so Dudley and Laura brought out the cake and ice cream. After a rousingly off-key version of Happy Birthday, it was time for presents. Amelia first opened the three from her friends. Then, she moved on to the other boxes before finishing up with the cards and letters.  
“Ooh! Look how pretty this one is!” Addie said, holding up a crisp white envelope with a red seal. Amelia opened it, and turned, confused, to her parents.  
“Dad? What’s Hogwarts?”


	5. Chapter 5

"Hogwarts?" Marley asked. "That's such a silly name."

"That's coming from someone named Marley," Sabrina responded teasingly. Marley glared at her in lieu of a response.

"Honey, can I see that letter?" Dudley asked, voice and fingers trembling.

"Sure, Daddy." Amelia said, handing it to him. Hyperventilating slightly, Dudley walked out of the dining room and into the den where Laura was reading some romance novel.

"Laura, Laura you need to look at this," Dudley said. He was holding the envelope away from his body like it offended him.

"One of Amelia's presents bothering you?" Laura asked, bookmarking her page with the essay she was supposed to be working through. She sat up and beckoned to the place next to her on their lumpy couch. Dudley simply shook the letter in her face.

"Wha-" Laura asked as she realized what the offending envelope held. The letter was addressed, in emerald green ink, to Ms. Amelia Dursley. The bright red seal on the envelope was broken, but Laura remembered it clearly enough from her brothers' letters. She looked at Dudley, took a breath, and pulled out the letter.

" _Dear Ms. Dursley,_

_We are please to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Percy Weasley_

_Deputy Headmaster_ "

In the envelope there was another paper with the list of school supplies and a number to call if they needed a wizard to come and help them understand Amelia's new life as a member of the Wizarding World.

"I can't face Harry," Dudley finally said.

"You don't have to," Laura reminded him. I'll call Dennis. He'll know what to do. How to buy a…" She looked down at the list. "Cauldron."

"But. But he knows. They all know.  His kids are going to meet Mimi. She can't know, Laura. She can't know what I used to be. This is why we only let her see my parents on Christmas. Laur, she's going to hate me." Dudley finished, voice cracking on the word 'hate. '

"She could never hate you, Dudley." Laura responded comfortingly. "And it's not like you were planning to keep Mimi away from Dennis and his family forever, were you? He's not estranged like Harry-he's my brother. They only haven't met before because he's been working for the ministry in Istanbul. Dudley, tomorrow we're going to call-Owl? him and ask him to talk to Mimi about magic. Eventually someone is going to have to mention Harry Potter. He's famous in that world; you know that and so do I. Either we tell her or someone else will. And I have a feeling that their version is going to be less than complimentary to you."

"So what do you want me to do?" Dudley asked, standing up and raising his voice. "Lie to her? Tell her that Harry lied about us and that no, we never kept him in a bloody cupboard under the stairs. And of course we fed him a good, healthy amount! Why would anyone ever say otherwise? My parents abused him, Laura. And I helped."

"But that's not who you are anymore, and Dudley, Mimi has only known the better you."

"I don't think I can bear the look she's going to give me when she finds out the truth."

"The past isn't anymore the truth than the present."

"Thank you, Santayana."

"Santayana?"

"Some philosopher I had to read in high school. What you said kind of reminded of the one famous quote of his. 'Those who fail to remember the past are doomed to repeat it.'"

"That has nothing to do with what I said, Dudley."

"Alright then maybe this whole situation just reminds me of that. Don't you get it?" Dudley was full on shouting now. "When Harry had magic, I treated him like a freak. Now that Mimi might? Look at me! I'm not reacting  _well._ "

"You're panicking, babe, and rightly so. Give yourself the night. We'll talk to Dennis tomorrw. This will be okay." She went to kiss him but Dudley shook her off. "You're a good person and a great father. Please remember that. Either go upstairs or take a walk, I'm going to check on the girls."

While Laura went to check on their daughter and her friends, Dudley decided to take a walk outside. Dudley only realized that he'd walked back to his old home when he turned up at the foot of the driveway. While his parents had moved far away from #4, Privet Drive, Dudley and Laura had, almost accidentally, moved back into the same neighborhood. The schools in Little Whinging were remarkably good for how quaint and quiet the town was. When one of them offered Laura an offer she couldn't refuse, Dudley just made sure that none of his potential neighbors either knew or remembered the Dursleys from their previous tenure in Surrey.

There was a 'for sale' sign in the front yard, so Dudley tried the door, only to find it open. The house hadn't changed much from he'd lived there-sure the kitchen was chrome now and the television was bigger, but it was clearly the same house. Dudley wandered over to the staircase. It appeared the previous owners had changed Harry's first room into a linen closet. The whole thing was shelved and stuffed to the brim. Up the stairs, Dudley, practically in a trance, walked into his old room. This room was practically unchanged. The desk was under the one window that didn't face the neighbor's garage and the bed was in the same corner. Dudley took off his shoes and lay down on the bed, tucking himself under the covers. Within an hour, he was asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Dudley awoke to a hand gently shaking him awake. Dimly, he realized he recognized neither the person that the hand on his shoulder belonged to nor where he was. He sat up, shaking the hand off as he did so. As he woke fully, he remembered walking over to Privet Drive after he’d seen Amelia’s-  
Right. Yesterday’s events immediately replayed themselves in his mind. Dudley felt his face color as he remembered how he’d acted. He must have been making a face, as the other man suddenly took a large step away from the bed.  
“Don’t mind me,” the man said, jarring Dudley from his memories. In his embarrassment, Dudley’d forgotten that the other man existed. Dudley took a close look at him. He was familiar looking, that was clear. He had darkly tanned skin and brown eyes. If Dudley had to guess, he would have said that he was either from the Mediterranean or the Middle East. His outfit was more puzzling. He was wearing cobalt blue loafers, brown plaid trousers, and a T-shit that said “Death by Rock n’Roll.” To add insult to injury, he was wearing a spiked armband. The man started to laugh when he noticed how intensely Dudley was studying him.  
“Do I know you?” Dudley finally asked.  
“I should hope so,” he responded. “I mean, I was at your wedding.” When Dudley showed no sign of magically coming up with his name, he sighed. “I’m Adil Kucuk-Creevey. Dennis’s Husband.” After Adil’s admission, Dudley realized that yes; he did know his face. He blushed as he thought about how many pictures of him Laura had put in their house. There had to be at least four-Dudley really should have been able to recognize him.  
“Hang on, aren’t you in Istanbul?” Dudley asked, confused. Adil made a show of gesturing to his body. “Evidently not.” He laughed. Dudley just stared back, nonplussed. “When you didn’t come home last night, Laura asked Dennis to see if he could locate you. He’s working on a huge case right now, so I intercepted the owl. I didn’t want him to feel guilty about the fact that he couldn’t come out here to help. I used a tracking spell to….” He trailed off when he noticed the sour look on Dudley’s face.  
“I don’t like it when people use magic on me. When Harry got his letter, some giant cast a spell on me and gave me a pig’s tail. I still have the scar,” Dudley said.  
“Is that what you hate about Magic?” Adil asked. “That you’re powerless?”  
Dudley opened his mouth to give a response, but closed it when he realized that he ddn’t have one.  
“You don’t have to answer. It’s just something that you should think about.” Dudley nodded. Then, too shy to look back into Adil’s searching eyes, he set about putting his shoes and coat back on.  
“We should probably get back home soon. We’re lucky enough that the sellers haven’t walked in, we don’t need to push it.”  
“Sure it’s just luck?” Adil asked, raising an eyebrow. “But you’re right. We should go. Do you want to go the fun way or the fast way?”  
“Um. Fun for who?”  
“Depends. Would you rather apparate or travel by the fireplace?”  
“Apparate? Do I want to know what that means? Why can’t we just walk back? That’s how I got here.”  
Adil sighed. “No, you probably don’t. You’re no fun. I even brought extra floo powder!”  
“You do remember that this is me, yes? Let’s just walk.” 

The walk was both quick and quiet, and soon, they were back at Dudley’s front door. Amelia let them in, her nervous expression melting into a smile when she saw her father.  
“Mummy was really nervous last night,” she said. By the look on her face, she appeared to be telling them a state secret. She reached up for Dudley’s hand and pulled him inside. Adil followed, shutting the door behind him.  
Laura met the three of them in the hallway. When she saw Dudley, she first slapped him for making her worry then kissed the angry, red spot on his cheek, telling him how glad she was that he was now home. Now that that was handled, Laura led the four of them into the den. Amelia sat in between her parents on the couch, and Adil pulled over a chair so that he could face them.  
“Amelia, honey,” Laura began softly. “This is Adil, My brother Dennis’s husband. He’s going to ask you a couple questions and we need you to answer them truthfully. Can you do that for me?”   
“Of course, Mummy. Is something wrong?”  
“No, don’t worry darling.” Laura ruffled her hair and gestured to Adil to start.  
“Hi Amelia. Dennis is going to be so jealous that I got to meet you first. You’re even prettier than in the pictures your parents sent us.” Amelia blushed, but didn’t say anything. “Have you ever done anything that you couldn’t explain? Something that wasn’t normal? Something that you didn’t even want to tell your parents?”  
“Umm. Maybe?” She said nervously.  
“Don’t worry sweetie,” Dudley said. “You’re not in trouble. But this is important.” Amelia took a deep breath.  
“Once, during a geography test, all the answers filled themselves in. Am I in trouble for cheating? I promise I didn’t do it on purpose.”  
“No, no of course not,” Adil responded. “Has there ever been anything else like that?”  
“Last year, Danny Kinner was being really mean to Marley. I made him trip. A lot.”  
“You probably thought that those were accidents, or that you were the only one who could do things like that, right?” Adil asked. Amelia nodded again.  
“Sabrina told me not to tell anyone. She said that they’d lock me up in a lab.” Adil laughed.  
“Well, I can happily tell you that that’s not going to happen. Do you remember the letter you got last night?” Laura took it off of the coffee table and handed it to her. “This is a school for people like you. Or, should I say, people like us.” On the word us, Adil reached into his pocket and took out a wand. He flicked his wrist slightly and the table began to levitate. Amelia ‘ooh’ed slightly, her eyes as big as saucers.  
“Hogwarts is a school of magic. It’s where your uncles Dennis and Colin went, and where Dudley’s cousin…” He trailed off. “But we’ll talk about Harry later. At Hogwarts, your teachers are going to teach you how to not only control your magic, but lots of spells. Does that sound fun?”  
Amelia was still too dazed by the flying table to speak.


	7. Chapter 7

All night, Amelia lay tossing and turning in her bed.  Even though she believed that Adil was telling the truth-you couldn’t argue with a floating table-it was hard to believe that magic was real.  For the past few years, every time something strange or unexplainable happened, Amelia’d been scared that her parents would find out and ship her away.  Now, apparently, there was a whole other magical world with lots of magical people.  How cool was that? 

With so much going on in her head, Amelia figured that her parents couldn’t blame her for the fact that she was up before sunrise. Eventually the rest of the house awoke.  Adil announced that after breakfast it was time to go to something called Dragon Alley-or was it diagonally?-so that they could buy school supplies. 

“Mum,” Amelia asked, then changed her mind and turned to her uncle. “Or maybe I should be asking you.  Why do we have to go somewhere new to buy my school supplies?  I already have a ton of pencils, and I bought a really pretty floral binder last year that I didn’t end up needing.” 

Adil laughed.  “Your school supplies are going to be a little bit different this year.  I don’t think Hogwarts allows pencils, but you can probably bring that binder.  Here,” he rummaged through his wallet. “You can look through the list.” 

**_First-year students will require:_ **

_Uniform_

_Three sets of Plain Work Robes (Black)_

_One Plain Pointed Hat (Black) for day wear_

_One Pair of Protective Gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_One Winter Cloak (Black, silver fastings)_

_Please note that all students’ clothes should carry name-tags at all times._

_Books:_

_The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk_

_A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_

_Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_

_A Beginner’s guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_

_Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger_

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander_

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Proclamation by Quentin Trimble_

_Other Equipment:_

_1 Wand_

_1 Cauldron_

_1 set of glass or crystal phials_

_1 telescope_

_1 set of brass scales_

_Students may also bring an Owl OR a Cat OR a toad._

**_Parents are reminded that First-years are not allowed their own Broomsticks._ **

“That’s the weirdest school supplies list I’ve ever seen,” Amelia decided.   “And why do we need to buy them so early?  Usually mummy and I don’t buy them until the last week in August.  Sometimes we even wait until the day before school starts.”

“We don’t have to get it all now, but I feel like we should acquaint you with the Wizarding World as much as possible, and that starts with buying you your supplies.  That way you can play around with your wand and pre-read some of your books.  Dennis told me how hard it was to adjust once he got to Hogwarts.  Imagine going from all your normal to a life where pictures move and speak and you’re taking classes on how to ride a broom or how to turn a mouse into a chalice.”

“We have pictures that talk.  They’re called TV,” Amelia responded petulantly.

Adil laughed again.  He seemed to do that a lot. 

“Trust me.  This is a good idea.” 

“I, for one, would love to see what kind of world we’re letting you leave us for,” Laura said.   “And it’s March break, so Dudley and I are free for the next two weeks.  This is as good of a time as any to Explore the Wizarding World.  Maybe we can even go out to Istanbul to see Dennis.  Your daughter Orly is around Amelia’s age, isn’t she?”

“Two years younger, but she’s spent her whole life around magic, so maybe she can help you adjust.”

“I have a cousin?”  Amelia asked, surprised.  “Why have you been hiding her from me?”

“You knew about Orly, Mimi.  Don't you remember her from their holiday cards?” 

“Oh.  Right.” Amelia stood up and put her plates in the sink.  “Can I go put my shoes and coat on?”

“Don’t worry about your coat, it’s really warm out today. But yes, while we finish up you can go put on your shoes.”  Amelia followed her mothers’ advice and ran towards the coat closet in the entryway.  When she returned, the adults, minus Dudley who was still in his bedroom, had moved into the den.  They were now standing in front of the fireplace.  Adil was holding a Ziploc baggie full of powder. 

“We’re going to travel by floo.  I can only take one of you at a time, so I’ll start with Laura, then follow with Amelia.  You need to hold on to me while we're floo-ing.  You let go and who knows where you’ll end up.” 

Adil and Laura disappeared into the fireplace in a flash of green smoke.  They were gone for a minute, before Adil returned.  He beckoned for Amelia to join him, and soon they too had vanished.  They ended up somewhere unlike anywhere Amelia had ever been.  There was a giant orange building with a ginger man and a top hat.  There was a giant, white marble building  with the grandest entryway that Amelia had ever seen.  There were dozens of smaller shops, one with flying brooms in the window, another with cloaks, and yet others with things that Amelia couldn’t even begin to identify.  What’s a sneakoscope?  A remembrall?  Was there even a difference between a proper cauldron and a mixing bowl?

“Let’s start by getting you measured for your school robes.  Then, we can get you your books from Flourish and Blotts. Afterwards, I can pick up the rest of your equipment while you and your mother stop by Florian’s for an ice cream.  They make the best mint chocolate chip.  And I’ve heard that their Tahitian vanilla is also quite special.  Lastly, we can go to Ollivander's.”

The robes were unlike anything Amelia had ever tried on.  The cloak was surprisingly warm. The witch that was fitting her looked like she wanted to kick Amelia out of the store.  Every time a pin or a tape measure moved of its own accord, Amelia flinched. 

In flourish and Blotts, out of the corner of her eye, Laura thought that she saw a familiar shock of bright orange hair.  But she had to be wrong.  What were the odds that Ginny Weasley was also here?

After they'd bought their books, Adil led them to the ice cream parlor, then left to go pick up the cauldrons and such.  Laura went with the vanilla, but Amelia decided to be a bit more adventurous and go for something called “The 20 layer Chocolate devil.”  While they were sitting, a family walked in.  The father had black hair and circle spectacles. The son had his father’s eye color and hair, but he didn’t wear glasses.  The mother and the daughter also looked remarkably similar, what with their bright eyes and even brighter carrot-colored hair. 

“Laura?”  Ginny asked as she walked in. “Laura Creevey?  What are you doing in Diagon Alley?”

“It’s actually Laura Dursley now,”  Laura responded.

“Dursley?”  Harry asked, trying, but failing, to restrain from making a face. 

“We actually met at your wedding,” Laura explained.  “Oh! And this is my daughter, Amelia.  You wouldn't believe it but she's starting at Hogwarts in the fall.”

“Same as Albus,” Ginny said at the same time as Harry mumbled “I bet Ol’ Dudders handled that really well.”  Ginny immediately glared at him, but Laura just looked down, embarrassed. After all, Harry was right.  Dudley _hadn’t_ reacted well.  

“Are you ready to get your wand, Amelia?”  Adil asked, breaking the tension as he walked in. 

“Ooh! You’re getting your first wand?”  The little girl asked.  “Mummy says I have to wait until I start school before I can get one.  I don’t understand why.  It’s not like I haven’t used one before, you know? I can do a bunch of spells with uncle George’s wand!”

“That’s…interesting?”  Amelia replied, unsure of how she was expected to respond.

“My name’s Lily by the way,”  she added proudly.  “And that’s,” she pointed to the boy standing behind her, “Albus. Our older brother James is already at Hogwarts.  He’s a third-year.  A bunch of my cousins are there too. And my almost brother Teddy graduates this year.  My family is huge.  There’s got to be a gagillion of us.  I have 11 cousins and a ton of Aunts and Uncles. Sometimes, when we’re at our reunions at The Burrow, it can be a bit overwhelming," She paused. "How come I've never seen you at one of them?  We’re related, aren't we daddy?  Dudley's that cousin you never talk about, isn't he?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Really?" Amelia asked.  "Mum, I have more family that you’ve been keeping from me? That’s so not fair.”

“This is a bit…different, sweetie.  You know that your father and his family aren’t on the best terms.” Harry scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.

“He’s not here, is he?”  Laura shook her head.  “I don’t know.  Maybe we should all get together.  Relive the glory days when I lived under the stairs.”  Harry laughed. It was a harsh, empty sound.  “Surprisingly, I’m not kidding.  I’m willing to give it a go if he is.  But weren’t you going to get your wand?  You should go.  That’s…it’s really quite an indescribable moment.” 

Laura, Adil, and Amelia left after Harry's words.  The wand store was across the way.   The words “Ollivander’s, makers of fine wants since 312 BC” were written in gold ink across a navy blue banner. . Inside, the store was musty and dank.  Ollivander himself was old.  Extremely old. Old enough that even his wrinkles had wrinkles.

“Ah, a Dursley.  I was wondering if I’d get meet one of you.”  Amelia just stared back at him blankly.  “Don’t you know, dearie?  Your father’s rather infamous here.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

“How do you know my father?” Amelia asked, defensive.  
“Honey, this isn’t the time or the place. Mr. Ollivander-you are Mr. Ollivander, yes? In any case, I don’t really think that it’s your place to comment on my husband.”  
“Yes, well. People have a nasty habit of commenting on what they shouldn’t, don’t they Ms. Dursley. Your daughter will have to get used to that if she’s going to survive here.” While he was talking, Ollivander had wandered back into his stacks and pulled out a long, maroon box. He carefully took off the lid and handed the wand inside to Amelia.  
“Should I just stand here and look pretty?” Amelia asked, still wary of the old man and his seemingly disdainful view of her family.  
“No, give it flick,” Ollivander instructed. Amelia did so and immediately every plant in the room wilted. Ashamed, Amelia hurriedly placed the wand back into the box.  
“Was that supposed to happen?”  
“It just means that we need to try another wand. The wand chooses the wizard, Mrs. Dursley. So we need to find the one that wants you.” Amelia skeptically look back towards her mother at his words, but steeled her expression when he came back out of the stacks holding three more boxes. One of them was the same color as the first, one was an emerald green and the other the color of the banner outside of the shop.  
“The different colors represent the different wand cores. Pheonix feather is in the orange box, Dragon heartstring in the blue boxes and Unicorn Tail Hair is in the green boxes. Some other makers use other ingredients, I know Veela Hair is quite the rage in France, for example.” Ollivander sneered, like the thought of something being ‘the rage’ automatically made it beneath him. “But I’ve found that these three cores are not only the most powerful, but also capable of forming the strongest attachments to their wizards.”  
Amelia tried the next four wands that Ollivander brought out, but she never fared better than with the first. The second and third made part of the ceiling cave in, and the fourth changed Ollivander’s clothes to a neon green. The more wands that he brought out, the more dejected Amelia felt. Ollivander said that the wand picked the wizard, so did that mean she was unwanted? The rejection stung more than when Addie picked Marley over her as her deskmate and she was forced to sit with Melody Jones last year. And Melody Jones still picked her nose.  
Ollivander had obviously picked up on her dejected attitude as he began to reassure her. “I have hundreds more for you to try,” Mr. Ollivander said, wiping the sweat off of his brow with a handkerchief. “You would not believe how many wands it took to find the youngest Mr. Weasley his first wand. Or worse-Mr. Longbottom.” From the back of the room, Adil laughed.  
“I guess it’s only funny if you know who they are,” he offered by way of explanation.  
Amelia tried the next few wands and was met with a similar amount of success as she had with the first few. That is to say, a lack thereof.  
After what felt like an hour, they finally found the one. This wand was long, dark brown, and sleek. There were two silver circles, one around each end of the handle. From the moment she saw it, Amelia knew that this was her wand. Something felt different. It clicked. She gently picked up the wand and, almost in a daze, waved it. Small, dainty purple sparks flew from the end and the musty air in the shop seemed to clear slightly, tinged with a faint lavender aura.  
Ollivander held up the wand and ran his fingers along the length. “11 inches of springy Elm. The core is dragon heartstring, capable of extremely powerful magic. Use it well.”  
Amelia thanked him while Adil paid. Instead of flooing back to their home, once they had stepped through the leaky cauldron and out of Diagon alley, Laura decided to call them a cab. Amelia expected to have to drag all of their heavy packages back to the house themselves, but she was pleased to learn that wizard stores automatically had their packages sent home. The only thing they end up having to carry was the wand, as Amelia couldn’t bring herself to put the box down.  
When they got home, they found Dudley pacing up and down the hallway and most of the boxes already haphazardly torn open.  
“Daddy! Daddy! We’re home! Look! Look at my wand! Do you see it?” Amelia ran in screaming, holding her wand out proudly. Dudley stopped his pacing to look.  
“Woah, woah. Be careful with that, Mimi. You don’t want to take someone’s eye out!” Amelia blushed, embarrassed, and put the wand away.  
“Diagon Alley was so cool Daddy! The tape measures moved all by themselves and, and there are spell books! And the spells in them actually work, not like the one Sabrina got me for Halloween last year! And the ice cream is way better than what we have in the freezer!” In her excitement, Amelia had started to ramble. Dudley listened patiently, his smile plastered on his face. As much as he hated to admit it, he’d almost been hoping that Amelia hated the magical world. Maybe then she wouldn’t leave.  
“…And then in the ice cream place we met your cousin, Harry and his family! Lily seems really nice, but Al didn’t really want to talk.”  
With those words, Dudley’s so carefully created world collapsed in on itself. She couldn’t have just heard about the bloody personification of perfection that was Harry Potter, of course she had to go and meet him.  
“Sweetheart, why don’t you go unpack everything upstairs while I talk to your mother.” Amelia knew a dismissal when she heard one, so she quickly ran upstairs.  
Laura was sitting in the den unpacking the boxes with Adil when Dudley found her.  
“She met Harry?” He asked, voice cracking as he mentioned his cousin.  
“He didn’t say anything about you,” Laura said. “Amelia doesn’t know anything. He and Ginny even seemed like they were willing to try to forgive.”  
“I don’t want his pity,” Dudley sneered.  
“Yes you do,” Laura said sternly. “For Amelia’s sake, you do. Do you want her to get blindsided by this when she goes to school? Besides, I don’t think he pities you. I think it’s deeper than that. I think he genuinely wants to move on.”  
“Of course, because Harry bloody Potter is above pity.”  
“Dudley,” she warned sternly.  
“I know, I know. It’d be easier if he pitied me.”  
“Well then I’m sorry but you’re going to have to deal with the fact that he doesn’t.”  
As Dudley sat down on the couch, head in his hands, a sharp tapping sound echoed through the room.  
“Sounds like you’ve got mail,” Adil said, uncovering one of the windows. A brown owl flew in. Adil picked up the letter that it dropped on the table and grimaced.  
“Looks like Harry and Ginny invited you two out for tea.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wanna Chat: letstalkwriting.tumblr.com  
> all comments are appreciated


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